Rotary printing machines



July 2, 1963 Filed July 16, 1959 ROTARY PRINTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 X =9 0 o m v 0 m 0 i0 Q I: o v- 0 mm I (a R f N O a a Q R n) N $53 I\ g3) N fllq //Vl/E/VT01 JOHN WILLIAM HARRIS ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J. w. HARRIS ROTARY PRINTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1959 //VVE'/V7'0 JOHN WILLIAM HARRIS started up, inking of United States Patent 3,095,810 RUTARY PRINTING MACHINES Kuhn William Harris, Earton Seagrave, Kettering, England, assiguor to Timsons Limited, Northamptonshire,

England, a British company Filed July 16, 1359, Ser. No. 827,613 Claims priority, application Great Britain Aug. 18, 1958 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-351) This invention appertains to rotary printing machines of the kind adapted to print upon a web of relatively thin and flexible material such as paper, film, foil or the like and comp-rising co-operable cylinders between which the traveling web passes to be printed upon, ink-applicator means for inking the surface or surfaces of the appropriate cylinder or cylinders, and heating devices at a drying zone through which the web travels after having been printed upon.

Thus, a machine of this kind is suitable for printing upon a web with volatile ink or like medium, the purpose of the heating devices in this instance being to expedite evaporation of the solvent in the medium.

Rapid drying of inks is, for example, essential in a case where a web is to be printed upon, on one or both sides, in more than one colour.

The ink-applicator means in a rotary printing machine of the kind concerned are, of course, for transferring ink from a supply to the surface of the or each appropriate cylinder.

Of the co-operable cylinders at the or each printing station in the machine the one to which ink is applied is a plate or design cylinder; the other may be an impression cylinder, in which instance the web to be printed upon would be passed directly between the two. Alternatively, the plate or design cylinder may be associated with an offset or transfer cylinder in which case the web would be passed between the last mentioned cylinder and either an impression cylinder or a further offset or transfer cylinder operating in counter pressure and applying matter to the back of the web, according to printing requirements. Moreover, the inkapplicator means in a printing machine of the kind referred to conventionally comprise a duct roller mounted for rotation in an ink reservoir or trough, at least one rotary inking drum having associated therewith inking or form rollers arranged to run in direct contact with the cylinder to be inked, a group of ink distributing rollers, for the transference of ink from the reservoir or trough to the said inking drum, and a swinging ductor which is movable back and forth between the surfaces of the duct roller and the first of the said distributing rollers. Such means are in the form of an inking unit, hereinafter for convenience referred to simply as an inker.

Although there is no vention is primarily applicable to a rotary chine wherein a drying chamber (defining the drying zone) is fitted with fluid fuel, e.g. gas or oil, burners of the form com-prising a pipe or manifold into which combustible fluid fuel from a supply is introduced and through which the said fuel passes to burner nozzles spaced along it. Thus, when the fluid fuel in such a burner is ignited, flame jets issue through the nozzles and, with the burner alight and fully operative these jets are directed towards an opposed surface of the traveling web.

The object of the present invention is to provide, in a rotary printing machine of the kind herein referred to, simple and efficient means for ensuring that the drying zone is at a temperature sufficient to dry ink before such ink is actually applied to the web. That is to say, the aim is to ensure limitation in this request the inprinting macylinder shall be delayed until the heating that after the machine has been that, during a slow 'ly suspended as the matically actuated to move the 3,=95,8l0 Patented July 2, 1963 drying zone, turned on in timed relation with the start, have been in operation sufficiently long to achieve the required ink-drying temperature. Conversely, the aim is down of the machine, prior to a stopthe inking of the said cylinder shall be automaticaltemperature in the drying zone falls ice as a consequence of switched off.

In this way smudging of undried ink is prevented.

According to this invention the ink-applicator means are adapted to be moved bodily towards and away from the co-operab-le cylinders at a printing station, and means influenced by the speed of the rotary printing machine, and hence functioning in accordance with t e linear speed of the travelling web, are so interlinked with mechanism for effecting such movements of the ink-applicator means that the said mechanism is automatically actuated to move the ink-applicator means into their working station adjacent to the plate or design cylinder at a predetermined speed of the machine during a start. e interlinkage is also such that, conversely, the said mechanism is autoink-applicator means back clear of the plate or design cylinder, at the same or other suitable speed, during a slow down of the machine.

The primary idea of the invention accordingly is that as the machine and the running web gather speed during a start, and the heating devices are, as a consequence, turned or switched on, actuation of the mechanism in a sense to effect forward movement of an inker into its working station shall be delayed unt'l the speed of the machine has I still further increased to a predetermined extent to permit of the required increase in the temperature of the drying zone befoe printing of the web commences.

On a slow down of the machine the inker is moved away from the forme at the same or another critical speed of the machine.

matically throwing an inker off a plate impression chine. In

' or design cylinder 1 are diagrammatically illustrated at and 18 for transferring ink from In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practical effect, a specific arrangement thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying purely diagrammatic drawings, wherein,

FIGURE 1 is a of the diagram of a rotary printing machine kind concerned provided with means for autocylinder during slowing down of the machine to a stop, the inker being shown in its working station in this figure, and

FIGURE 2 is a similar diagram with the inker retracted clear of the plate or design cylinder.

In the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a rotary plate or design cylinder which is arranged to cooperate with an cylinder 2 at a printing station P in the ma- FIGURE 1, a web W of paper or the like to be printed upon is shown being drawn from a roller R through the station P and also through a dry-ing chamher 3 incorporatin g web-heating fluid fuel, e. g. gas, burners such as 4 and 5 controlled respectively by two solenoidoperated valves.

For drawing the web W through the printing station P and the drying chamber 3 there is provided an electric motor 6. Drive connections from this motor to the plate 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Mounted adjacent to the cylinder 1 is a unitary inker 11 including a duct roller 12 mounted for rotation in an ink reservoir or trough 13, an inking drum 14 having associated therewith inking or forme rollers 15, 16 arranged to run in direct contact with the plate or design cylinder 1 to be inked, ink distributing rollers such as 1'] the reservoir or trougl 13 to the inking drum 14, and a swinging ductor 1! which is movable back and forth between the duct rolle 12 and the distr'buting roller 17. All of the component the heating devices being turned or arm 23 which is pivotally mounted upon the fixed frame work 24 of the machine. A trunnion, pin or the like such as 25 fixed in the carriage F of the inker is engaged in the eccentric 20*. Consequently, as the said eccentric is turned in a clockwise direction from the position shown in FIGURE 1 to that shown in FIGURE 2, it will be swung up with inker 11 and throwing it otf the cylinder 1. Conversely, an anti-clockwise turning movement of the eccentric will result in the trunnion, pin or the like so that the inker 11 is bodily thrown on to the cylinder 1. For imparting the required turning chain 26. The opposite ends of this chain connected to t e outer ends other, according to requirements, with a third arm 7 In carrying the invention into eifect in the arrangement just described, the aforementioned means influenced by the speed of the machine are interlinked with the eccentric 20 and the solenoid-operated valves associated with the gas burners.

At 23 is a solenoid 33 arthe inker will be automatically retracted from the impression or design cylinder during the slow down and the burners will be turned off.

The complete arrangement illustrated includes a throw-01f in the drawings mechanism 38, '39, 44 for the impres- Ineans interlinked with the control for the inker 11 whereby whenever the said inker is moved 1 during a slow down of the speed of the Web W) simultaneously with actuation of the impression cylinder 2 throwing the impression cylinder inder 1.

piston and cylinder device,

a lever pivotally mounted on the carriage and pivoted in response to actuation of the piston and cylinder device,

a turnable eccentric mounted on the carriage and eccentrically rotatable relative to the carriage in response to pivoting of the lever,

and an arm joining the eccentric and the stationary 3. In the combination according to claim 1, the improvement further comprising a rod joining the piston and References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Smith June 17, 1919 6 Phythian et al July 31, 1934 Crafts Jan. 25, 1949 Zonner July 14-, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia Sept. 17, 1952 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH APPARATUS FOR MOVING A WEB THROUGH PRINTING MEANS AND THEREAFTER THROUGH A DRYING CHAMBER AND INCLUDING A STATIONARY FRAME SUPPORTING THE PRINTING MEANS, MEANS FOR MOVING THE WEB AT A PREDETERMINED SPEED, AND A PLURALITY OF INKING ROLLERS FOR SUPPLYING INK TO THE PRINTING MEANS, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING: A MOVABLE CARRIAGE SUPPORTING THE INKING ROLLERS; DRIVING MEANS MOVING THE CARRIAGE TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM THE PRINTING MEANS TO SELECTIVELY SUPPLY INK TO THE PRINTING MEANS, THE DRIVING MEANS INCLUDING A FLUID PRESSURE ACTUATED PISTON AND CYLINDER DEVICE, A LEVER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON THE CARRIAGE AND PIVOTED IN RESPONSE TO ACTUATION OF THE PISTON AND CYLINDER DEVICE, A TURNABLE ECCENTRIC MOUNTED ON THE CARRIAGE AND ECCENTRICALLY ROTATABLE RELATIVE TO THE CARRIAGE IN RESPONSE TO PIVOTING OF THE LEVER. AND AN ARM JOINING THE ECCENTRIC AND THE STATIONARY FRAME AND CONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT OF THE CARRIAGE; AND SYNCHRONOUS MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE SPEED OF THE WEB MOVING MEANS AND OPERATIVELY CONTROLLING THE DRIVING MEANS FOR AUTOMATIC SHIFTING OF SAID CARRIAGE AWAY FROM THE PRINTING MEANS WHEN THE WEB IS ADVANCED AT A SPEED LESS THAN SAID PREDETERMINED SPEED AND FOR AUTOMATIC SHIFTING OF THE CARRIAGE TOWARD THE PRINTING MEANS WHEN THE WEB IS ADVANCED AT A SPEED AT LEAST EQUAL TO SAID PREDETERMINED SPEED, THE SAID SYNCHRONOUS MEANS INCLUDING A FLUID VALVE COMMUNICATING WITH THE PISTON AND CYLINDER DEVICE AND OPERABLE TO CONTROL TRANSMISSION OF FLUID TO THE PISTON AND CYLINDER DEVICE, AN ACTUABLE SOLENOID OPERATIVELY CONTROLLING THE FLUID VALVE, AN ELECTRIC SWITCH CONTROLLING THE ACTUATION OF THE SOLENOID, AND CAM MEANS ENGAGING THE SWITCH AND RESPONSIVE TO CHANGES IN THE SPEED TO THE WEB MOVING MEANS. 